Ways to go

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations …"(Matthew 28:19, HCSB)

Jesus’ last words on earth set the standard for every believer: to glorify Him by making His name known. IMB’s vision is a multitude from every language, people, tribe and nation knowing and worshipping our Lord Jesus Christ — the very essence of Christ’s Great Commission. Accomplishing this command means sending missionaries to every corner of the earth. Will you be one of them?

Called and gifted by God, with a high sense of God’s leading to use their gifts in missionary service in cross-cultural situations

Age: 21-50 years old at the time of appointment - therefore we recommend you apply before age 49

Single or married, never divorced (both spouses must qualify)

Model a Godly life and healthy family life

Dependent children must be under the age of 13 at the time of starting service with IMB. We are unable to send new missionaries overseas with teenagers. We recommend that you start the application before your oldest child is 11 1/2 years old.

Citizens or permanent U.S. residents

Active members of a Southern Baptist Church for a minimum of three years

Trained and involved in personal evangelism, discipleship and witnessing. Evangelism training must be within the confines of a formal program that includes classroom work and practical experience witnessing. See examples below, though qualifying evangelism training is not limited to this list:

-Evangelism Explosion

-Continuing Witness Training

-Share Jesus Without Fear, including practicum

-How to be a Contagious Christian, including practicum

-CAMEL training

-MasterLife I & II

-Campus Crusade

-Navigators

-Seminary evangelism courses that include a practicum

Candidates should have the education and experience to meet requirements for a specific assignment. Written job descriptions indicate educational requirements for each specific assignment. Apprentices who are appointed before meeting the career requirements must complete them by the end of their first state-side assignment. Apprentice service is a means of gaining the field experience needed for career service. Prior church-related and secular experience will be evaluated as a part of the Apprentice application process.

Good emotional, physical and mental health

To learn more, please view this informational powerpoint or video about long-term service.

Application process

Step 1

Take the first step toward missions by reading the information on this site including the qualifications for Apprentice. If you have any questions before applying online, please contact our Initial Contacts Representative at 1-888-422-6461. Click 'Apply' at the top of the page and follow the instructions.

Step 2

After submitting the Information Form, a Personnel Consultant and assistant will guide and nurture you through the application process starting with an Initial Interview. To see your assigned Personnel Consultant click on the button below.

At the Missions EXPO conference you will meet with selected IMB Staff, have personal interviews, participate in small groups with other candidates, research job details with a Strategic Deployment Consultant, and learn more about the IMB.

Step 4

You will work with your Personnel Consultant as you complete the application paperwork, then your indepth interview will be scheduled. The next step is then securing a job match with your Deployment Consultant.

Step 5

The Strategic Deployment Consultant presents your application to a select committee of the IMB Trustees for their recommendation for your appointment. Once approved, candidates attend appointment week to meet with trustees and IMB Staff. Additional information related to life overseas and general orientation is shared. You will participate in an appointment service.

Step 6

Orientation includes the entire family and is held at the International Learning Center near Richmond. Furnished quarters, meals, care and schooling are provided for the children during the sessions. Overseas deployment usually occurs within two weeks after orientation.

Seminary requirements

The International Mission Board has determined that the long-term effectiveness of missionary personnel is closely related to solid academic preparation, especially in biblical, missiological and theological areas.

CURRENT SEMINARY REQUIREMENTS:

A bachelor’s degree plus appropriate seminary and professional training is preferred for most assignments. Appropriate seminary training is required to better prepare the person for cross-cultural missionary service. Areas addressed might include one’s theological foundation, missiological philosophy, Southern Baptist identity, evangelism preparation, and any other field-generated expectations for a specific assignment. For Career service, the current requirement is as listed below.

**PLEASE NOTE—Apprentice applicants do not need to have these hours in place, but the hours must be completed prior to the beginning of the second term as Career missionaries. If you do not have at least some of these hours completed before going Apprentice it will be impossible to complete the total hours before your Career term. Please talk through this with your Personnel Consultant to fully understand the implications of this requirement.

Career service

A bachelor's degree and a minimum of 20 hours seminary is required for all Career assignments. Team Strategy Leaders are required to have completed a minimum 30 hours of graduate level biblical, theological, and missiological study.

Missionary spouses are expected to have at least 60 college credits. For those with only a high school diploma, they will need 15 hours of Bible and theological courses from an approved institution. Please check with your Personnel Consultant to guide you in this.

For 20-hour and 30-hour requirements, the IMB recommends certain courses that will provide the foundation the missionary will need as they approach their task. There is flexibility in the classes you can take. However, we do ask that the courses be in the areas of biblical studies, missions, church history, anthropology and theology. Be sure to review course selections with your consultant.

NOTE: For those needing 30 hours of seminary credit for the position of Strategy Coordinator, at least 24 hours must come from the core course list and 6 hours may be electives.

EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THOSE APPROVED BY TRUSTEES AFTER JUNE 1, 2014:

All Apprentice head of household applicants (husbands and all singles) will be required to have a minimum of 12 hours of credit from an approved, graduate level theological institution prior to being approved by trustees. Therefore, this requirement must be completed prior to the unit being presented to Trustees for approval.

These 12 hours must be for graduate level credit and allocated as follows:

3 hours – New Testament Survey

3 hours – Old Testament Survey

3 hours – Biblical or Systematic Theology

3 hours – Hermeneutics

All Apprentice applicants who are not the head of household (wives) will be required to have a minimum of 12 hour of undergraduate or graduate theological credit prior to being approved by trustees. Therefore, this requirement must be completed prior to the unit being presented to Trustees for approval. In some cases, with IMB approval, selected seminary wives study programs offered by specified Southern Baptist Seminaries will be acceptable to meet the requirement for spouse theological studies. In most cases two seminary wives classes will be necessary to equal one three hour course for undergraduate or graduate credit.

These 12 hours may be undergraduate or graduate level credit and allocated as follows:

3 hours – New Testament Survey

3 hours – Old Testament Survey

3 hours – Biblical or Systematic Theology

3 hours – Elective Course in General Ministry

In order to make the transition to these new requirements reasonable for those already in the application process, implementation will begin with those presented to the Trustees for approval after June 1, 2014.

Head of Household Apprentice applicants are encouraged to complete all 20 hours of these seminary requirements before beginning their Apprentice term, however the 12 hours are required before serving the Apprentice term for those approved by Trustees after June 1, 2014.

If you have further questions about the educational requirements, please contact the Personnel Consultant for your region of the country.

Explore your call

GOD'S CALL IS TO SALVATION, DISCIPLESHIP AND SERVICE

Having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is a basic assumption for those who are considering missionary service. But to understand your call to missions, it is important to recognize that your call began when He asked you to commit your life to Him. That call continues as He calls you to be faithful in your walk with Christ as a disciple and to serve Him. Some are called to serve as volunteers here and overseas, others feel a call to live residentially overseas as missionaries for 2-3 years, and many feel a call to serve overseas as Career missionaries.

GOD'S CALL IS IN HARMONY WITH HIS WORK OF CREATION

God uses our talents and spiritual gifts overseas to fulfill the call to missions in unique ways. If God is calling you to overseas missionary service, you will want to identify how you may be suited for effective missionary service in cross-cultural settings. There are many types of assignments on the field and each requires a certain giftedness and fit. God is calling us to Himself and this is at the core of the call to missions.

GOD'S CALL IS HEARD IN THE PERSONAL LEADERSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Those who are called to missions must sense God's leadership in their lives. That may come in a dramatic spiritual experience or in reflecting on how God has led you through a series of circumstances. Many experience this leadership of the Holy Spirit to overseas missions service when they are involved in a short term missions project. God may affirm that they are doing exactly what He has called them to do. Everyone experiences this call in a different way. How has God spoken to your heart?

GOD'S CALL INVOLVES OTHER CHRISTIANS

God works through fellow Christians to help us sense and confirm His call. You may want to ask others about your feelings related to God's call to overseas service. Do these spiritual brothers, sisters, and mentors affirm your sense of call? Do they affirm that you have a passion for the lost of the world? If so, read more about our options of missionary service on this website and pray about filling out the Information Form letting us know of your interest.

Journeyman

Journeyman missionaries are recent college graduates with a passion to take the Gospel to some of the hardest, least-evangelized places on earth.

Serving for two to three years, Journeymen must be between the ages of 21-26 and have completed an undergraduate degree; see “Qualifications” below for more details.

Single or married with no children (must be married one year prior to deployment)

Citizen or permanent resident of the United States

Completion of an accredited bachelor’s degree prior to orientation

Willingness to commit to a two-year assignment

Commitment to evangelism

A growing Christian faith

Ability to clear your calendar for a four-day conference in Richmond

To learn more, please view this informational powerpoint or video about short-term service.

Application process

There is an upper age limit for being a Journeyman. You will need to have started the application before you turn 26. You must still be age 26 at the start of the eight-week orientation session.

On the average, those applying for 2-3 years assignments take six to twelve months to complete the application and interview process — this is starting with submitting the initial Information Form through the start of orientation. The application is designed for each individual to move through it at their own pace; you mostly determine how long it takes depending on the time you can commit to it and your availability to begin serving. Your consultant will also work with you to determine the best timing for attending an interview conference and looking toward orientation.

Once Journeymen complete the Information Form online, that starts the application process. Then they will be asked to complete several other pertinent forms which will help us determine their readiness for overseas service. This includes a Health Questionnaire, Christian Beliefs statements, Personal Testimony, references, etc… Journeyman will be working towards a deadline date for when all written materials will need to be completed.

Qualified Journeyman applicants will next be invited to attend a three day Expo where they will be able to view the current job requests and locations. This is held in Richmond, VA, and we will cover the costs for you to attend.

Applicants will be asked to choose their top three job preferences at the Expo. Currently, there are two Expo conferences a year: February and October. Depending on the time the application is started and the other forms completed and depending on the date of the Expo conference, the time sequence is generally 6-7 months to get to the Expo conference. If you are matched with a job (and you accept it), then you would be invited to the next applicable eight-week training session here in Richmond, VA; this is when you would begin your employment with us. There are four eight-week training sessions each year: one starts in January, another in April, one in July, and one in October (exact dates vary per year). After the training session is completed, you would be leaving for your assignment overseas.

If you are a college senior hoping to go as a Journeyman when you graduate, we suggest you start in August or early September of your senior year. The deadline for all materials to be completed will generally be the week prior to Thanksgiving; please check with your Personnel Consultant or Assistant for the specific date. You will hear in January if you have been invited to the February Expo conference to see the jobs. Two weeks or so after the Expo, you will be notified if you have been matched with a job. If you accept it, you would begin your eight weeks of training the latter part of July after you have graduated from college. If you will graduate in December, start the application process in the spring of that year to be considered for the October Expo conference.

You are welcome to look at any job requests in the country you desire. But, there may be more than one person looking at that request and we have to decide who is best for that job. We hope that you will be open to exploring all the open job requests. We can only fill the priority job requests that are currently open and available at the Expo conference. We know that all of the requests are important and worthy and many times someone has come to a conference with one country in mind but learned about another job request that seems better suited to their gifting and skills. Later, they often report they are so glad they ended up going to the different country. We are looking for flexible workers open to God’s leading day by day, step by step.

ISC

International Service Corps (ISC) missionaries serve in vital short-term support roles, working alongside career missionaries to share Christ and plant churches.

Possible assignments include teaching in an international school, media, logistical support, information technology, finance and more.

Serving for two to three years terms, ISC missionaries must be 21 or older; see “Qualifications” below for more details.

Singles, couples, and young families (if married, must be married for at least one year prior to an interview conference)

Dependent children must be under the age of 13 at the time of starting service with us so we recommend you apply before the oldest is over 11 1/2 years old. We are unable to send new families overseas who have dependent teenagers.

People with a past divorce (at least five years in the past) may serve—call for more information (Initial Contacts)

Citizen or permanent resident of the United States

Education/experience that meets the field requirements

Willingness to commit to a two-year assignment

Commitment to evangelism

A growing Christian faith

Ability to clear your calendar for a four-day conference in Richmond

To learn more, please view this informational powerpoint or video about short-term service.

Application process

On the average, those applying for 2-3 years assignments take six to twelve months to complete the application and interview process — this is starting with submitting the initial Information Form through the start of orientation. The application is designed for each individual to move through it at their own pace; you mostly determine how long it takes depending on the time you can commit to it and your availability to begin serving. Your consultant will also work with you to determine the best timing for attending an interview conference and looking toward orientation.

Once you complete the Information Form online, that starts the application process. Then you will be asked to complete several other pertinent forms which will help us determine your readiness for overseas service. This includes a Health Questionnaire, Christian Beliefs statements, Personal Testimony, references, etc… ISCers will be working towards a deadline date for when all written materials will need to be completed.

Qualified ISC applicants will next be invited to attend a three day Expo where they will be able to view the current job requests and locations. This is held in Richmond, VA, and we will cover the costs for you to attend.

Applicants will be asked to choose their top three job preferences at the Expo. Currently, there are two Expo conferences a year: February and October. Depending on the time the application is started and the other forms completed and depending on the date of the Expo conference, the time sequence is generally 6-7 months to get to the Expo conference. If you are matched with a job (and you accept it), then you would be invited to the next applicable eight-week training session here in Richmond, VA; this is when you would begin your employment with us. There are four eight-week training sessions each year: one starts in January, another in April, one in July, and one in October (exact dates vary per year). After the training session is completed, you would be leaving for your assignment overseas.

If you are a college senior hoping to go as an ISCer when you graduate, we suggest you start in August or early September of your senior year. The deadline for all materials to be completed will generally be the week prior to Thanksgiving; please check with your Personnel Consultant or Assistant for the specific date. You will hear in January if you have been invited to the February Expo conference to see the jobs. Two weeks or so after the Expo, you will be notified if you have been matched with a job. If you accept it, you would begin your eight weeks of training the latter part of July after you have graduated from college. If you will graduate in December, start the application process in the spring of that year to be considered for the October Expo conference.

You are welcome to look at any job requests in the country you desire. But, there may be more than one person looking at that request and we have to decide who is best for that job. We hope that you will be open to exploring all the open job requests. We can only fill the priority job requests that are currently open and available at the Expo conference. We know that all of the requests are important and worthy and many times someone has come to a conference with one country in mind but learned about another job request that seems better suited to their gifting and skills. Later, they often report they are so glad they ended up going to the different country. We are looking for flexible workers open to God’s leading day by day, step by step.

Kairos

Hispanics often have greater access to certain people groups than missionaries from other ethnicities. Kairos was created to maximize the unique cultural and linguistic skills of Hispanic Southern Baptists in fulfilling the Great Commission.

Some Kairos missionaries serve alongside established missionary teams while others pioneer work among unengaged peoples.

Serving for two to three year terms, Kairos missionaries must be 21 or older; see “Qualifications” below for more details.

Macedonia Project

After completing a three to four year assignment, Macedonia missionaries return to the United States to finish the remainder of their degree, supported by a stipend. Missionaries are then eligible to apply for service as career missionaries.

Macedonia Project applicants must be 21 or older; see “Qualifications” below for more details.

If married, must be married for at least one year prior to Field Personnel Orientation

Dependent children must be under the age of 13 at the time of starting service

Education/experience that meets the field requirements

The ability to complete one seminary level course per semester or two courses per year

Potential for career appointment in 4-5 years

Details

Macedonia Project to help speed new missionaries to field

By Erich Bridges

RICHMOND, Va.—You’ve recently finished college — or maybe you’re a mid-career professional — and you sense an urgent call to follow Christ into long-term mission service.

You have the practical skills to make an impact. You have the motivation. You’re ready to respond to the Lord’s call in obedience — right now, as the Apostle Paul responded when he dreamed of the man pleading, “Come over to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16:9). But you need the theological training required for career missionary appointment.

The Macedonia Project might be the express lane to missions you’re looking for. This category of missionary service was developed by IMB in conjunction with Southern Baptist seminaries.

The three- to four-year mission assignment, offered under the International Service Corps (ISC) umbrella, allows apprentice missionaries to live and serve overseas while pursuing theological education online with one of the participating seminaries. At the end of the field term, Macedonia Project missionaries will return to the U.S. and complete the remainder of their academic curriculum within a year, earning a master of arts degree while continuing to receive a financial stipend. After successfully completing the program, they will be eligible to apply for appointment as full-fledged career missionaries.

The approach enables new missionaries to gain real-world experience while simultaneously building the biblical foundation needed to undergird them for the long term. They learn theology and missiology “in the laboratory of the field experience — essentially without delaying theological education in order to gain field experience, nor delaying field experience in order to get theological education,” according the program’s introductory statement.

The IMB is seeking two types of candidates for the program:

People just out of college with a long-term mission calling who want to jumpstart their training and get to the field as soon as possible.
Well-equipped people already in the professional arena who have valuable skills to offer in mission service, but who need seminary training.
The first group comprises “millennials who are moving from college into the professional world and really aren’t of the mindset to separate their theological education from their practical experience,” said an IMB personnel strategist helping design the program. “The other group is professionals who feel called to long-term missions. They maybe have professional expertise in teaching or dentistry or medicine or nursing and they want to come with IMB. They’ve got experience. They’ve got a professional degree. The only thing they lack is theological education. They can come via Macedonia and get the education while at the same time getting oriented to missions.”

Participants work to complete one seminary course per semester, or two per year, while they’re on the field. The most academically challenging courses likely come at the end of the program, when they return to complete degree work on seminary campuses. Cooperating seminaries are asked to provide Macedonia Project missionaries a discount in regular tuition for online classes. IMB also provides study funds to help offset tuition costs.

And the programs aren't identical at each school. Program designers are looking to have a variety of programs a student can choose from to further enrich the type of experience that student receives.

Potential candidates can seek more information by calling IMB Initial Contacts at (888) 422-6461 or emailinginitial.contacts@imb.org.

Masters

Masters missionaries bring a lifetime of experience, skills and wisdom as they work with career and other short-term missionaries to evangelize the lost.

Serving for two to three years terms, Masters missionaries must be 50 or older with no dependent children and must provide a portion of their financial support; see “Qualifications” below for more details.

People who are flexible and can work well with others as part of a team, willing to do whatever it may take to reach others with the love of Christ

At least 50 years old; no upper age limit (if married, one spouse must be 50)

An active member of a Southern Baptist church for the past two years

No dependent children under age 18; no children can accompany parents to the field

People with a past divorce (at least five years in the past) may serve—call for more information (Initial Contacts)

Citizen or permanent resident of the United States

Education/experience that meets the field requirements

Commitment to evangelism

A growing Christian faith

Ability to provide partial support

Ability to clear your calendar for a four-day conference in Richmond

To learn more, please view this informational powerpoint or video about short-term service.

Marketplace Advance

Marketplace Advance empowers Southern Baptists to reach the lost through their work, using God-given talents and passions for the sake of the Great Commission.

This community includes business and medical professionals, artisans, entrepreneurs, educators, construction workers, engineers, musicians, lawyers and so many more, all united by a desire to make disciples of every nation. Marketplace Advance offers the training and connections needed to live out your faith in the workplace.